The Daily: Coinbase outlines priorities for Bitcoin's post-quantum migration, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block's newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Wednesday! Bitcoin fell below $82,000 after hotter-than-expected core U.S. inflation data raised concerns about further Fed rate hikes.

In today's newsletter, Coinbase outlines its priorities for Bitcoin's post-quantum migration, Hex and PulseChain founder Richard Heart is reportedly detained in Istanbul, Standard Chartered pushes its $2 trillion stablecoin market forecast to 2030, and more.

Meanwhile, BNY and Citadel Securities complete a Treasury repo using tokenized assets, a major SkyAI shareholder raises concerns after its Solana treasury shrinks 70% in a month, and Kalshi's CEO defends prediction markets over insider trading concerns.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Latent, our sister website covering AI. Get The Latent Daily here and all other The Block newsletters here. Also, follow The Block and The Latent on X for more updates.

Coinbase outlines priorities for Bitcoin's post-quantum migration

Coinbase has outlined its technical priorities for preparing Bitcoin against future quantum computing threats, calling for early action on security upgrades and moving funds to safer addresses, a process it said could take years.

• Coinbase, which holds 5% of the total bitcoin supply, said protecting Bitcoin will require more than choosing a quantum-resistant signature system. Any solution must also work within Bitcoin's limited block space, support regular wallets and institutional custody, and allow full nodes to independently verify transactions.
• The exchange favors flexible designs that separate how funds are held from the signature technology used to authorize transactions. It identified P2MR (BIP-360) and P2TRv2 as possible approaches that could allow future upgrades without redesigning the entire system.
• Coinbase also supports a gradual transition, allowing active wallets to use quantum-resistant or hybrid security before decisions are made about older signatures. One option would let funds be accessed through either an existing signature method or a post-quantum key.
• The company said any support for stateful signatures should also include a stateless option, because poor management of stateful systems could create security risks. It also wants at least one post-quantum option compatible with multiparty computation (MPC), which helps institutions protect private keys.

Hex and PulseChain founder Richard Heart reportedly detained in Istanbul

Hex and PulseChain founder Richard Heart was detained in Istanbul during an operation involving Turkish intelligence and local police, according to Turkish media reports Wednesday. The Block has not independently confirmed his custody status.

• Turkish outlets Sözcü and Haberler reported that Heart, whose legal name is Richard James Schueler, was detained at a residence in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district. Authorities reportedly seized $4 million in cash, 64 luxury watches and electronic devices.
• Heart is wanted by Finnish authorities over alleged aggravated tax fraud, according to an Interpol Red Notice. A separate U.S. SEC lawsuit against him was dismissed in February 2025, and the regulator declined to amend its complaint in April.
• Tokens linked to Heart fell following the reports. HEX dropped 25% on Wednesday, while PulseChain's PLS token declined 35% over 24 hours. HEX was already more than 99% below its 2021 peak, and PLS had fallen nearly 98% since its launch.

Standard Chartered pushes $2 trillion stablecoin forecast to 2030

Standard Chartered has pushed back its forecast for the stablecoin market to reach $2 trillion from 2028 to 2030, citing stalled supply growth.

• Stablecoin supply has remained between $300 billion and $320 billion over the past year and currently stands near $309 billion. Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank's global head of digital assets research, views the slowdown as temporary and linked to weak crypto market activity.
• Stablecoin use continues to grow despite flat supply, Kendrick noted. Monthly transfer value has averaged nearly $10 trillion this year, up from $4 trillion in 2025, while the average number of times each stablecoin dollar changes hands per month has doubled to around 30.
• Kendrick expects growing competition in stablecoin payments and sees regulation, including how other countries follow the U.S. GENIUS Act, as a major risk to the forecast.

Strive buys $235 million in bitcoin as warrant exercises bring in $369 million

Bitcoin treasury company Strive bought another 2,822 BTC for around $235 million, bringing its total holdings to 35,595 BTC, while warrant exercises generated an expected $369.2 million in gross proceeds.

• Strive purchased the bitcoin between Oct. 12 and Oct. 13 at an average price of about $83,266 per coin, including fees and expenses. The latest purchase follows its $280 million acquisition of 3,311 BTC announced Tuesday.
• Strive also proposed a public offering of 5 million shares of its 15% Series A Perpetual SATS preferred stock, with a stated amount of $100 per share.
• Strive said the preferred stock proceeds could be used for bitcoin purchases, income-generating assets, working capital and other corporate purposes. The offering is subject to market conditions.

Evernorth taps Ripple, Kraken, Coinbase and BitGo to put $648 million XRP treasury to work

Evernorth plans to begin deploying its XRP treasury through "institutional strategies" in the fourth quarter, naming Ripple, Kraken, Coinbase and BitGo as its first partners. The company holds 473 million XRP, worth around $648 million.

• Evernorth wants to generate earnings and increase XRP holdings per share rather than simply buy more tokens. It plans to expand into lending and onchain DeFi strategies on the XRP Ledger as those features become available, but has not disclosed how much XRP it will initially deploy.
• Former Coinbase Asset Management co-chief investment officer Hugo Jeandesboz will oversee the strategy as Evernorth's new CIO.

In the next 24 hours

• September retail sales, producer price inflation (PPI) data and weekly jobless claims are due Thursday. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is also scheduled to speak.
• Eurozone industrial production data for August is due Thursday. ECB Supervisory Board Chair Claudia Maria Buch is also scheduled to speak.
• Connex (CONX), Starknet (STRK), YZY (YZY), and Sei (SEI) tokens set for unlocks are scheduled for Thursday.

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